Meanwhile, thanks to a massive share buyback, Wall Street has rewarded the company with a rich stock price.

So what gives? We have three theories:

97% is insanely high. It had to come down some. Mayer hasn't actually turned around Yahoo yet, after all.

Mayer knows Yahoo needs to cut costs, and that means firing people. But we've heard she's not going to do it one big layoff. She's going to do it sniper style. That can hurt morale because employees don't know when the firings are over, or if they'll be next.